NYSID, Attorney General’s Office Note Indictments of Companies and Four Principals in No-Fault Billing Scam

New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and State Insurance Superintendent Gregory Serio announced the filing of charges against four owners of ambulette companies for reportedly submitting fraudulent transportation bills to insurance carriers under no-fault. The schemes are alleged to involve false billings for hundreds of motor vehicle accident victims for whom the billed transportation services were not provided.

Among the felony charges the defendants face are scheme to defraud, insurance fraud, forgery, larceny and attempted larceny. Four defendants and five corporations were charged with carrying out the billing scam in three indictments.

“The arrests of ambulette company owners provide a clear example of how the crime of no-fault fraud is evolving and how new methods are being employed by criminals to steal money from the no-fault insurance system,” said Serio. “The announcement of these arrests proves that through the aggressive collaborative work with the Attorney General no one involved in no-fault insurance fraud in New York State will escape arrest and prosecution.”

The defendants reportedly submitted bills to insurance companies for patient transportation services that were never rendered. The defendants also transported accident victims using livery cars or private cars and then billed insurance carriers claiming that ambulettes, which are billed at a higher rate, were used.

Two arrested were Alla Bronshteyn, 57, and Vitaly Tsimerman, 60, charged with submitting phony bills through a corporation they owned, Ex-L Ambulette Service, Inc. Charges were also brought against the corporation. The defendants are charged with submitting more than 40 phony claims to 10 insurance carriers, beginning in 2000.

Also arrested was Mark Pogoriler, 46. Pogoriler and two corporations owned by him, Shark Transportation M.S. Inc. and LEM-M Ambulette Service Inc., were charged with submitting approximately $80,000 in fraudulent bills for ambulette round-trips to numerous insurance carriers. Neither transportation company reportedly owned any ambulettes.

In addition, Ivan Lopadchak, 47, and two companies owned by him, Ex-L Ambulette Service I.M.. Inc. and Almaz Ambulette Service I.M. Inc., were charged with submitting approximately $45,000 in fraudulent bills for ambulette round-trips to insurance carriers. Lopadchak’s companies also reportedly owned no ambulettes.

The four defendants were arraigned in Kings County Supreme Court. Pogoriler and Lopadchak are being held in on bail; Bronshteyn and Tsimerman posted a bond and were released.